The Alabama State women's and men's track teams will open the outdoor track season Saturday at the Southern Miss Invitational.
Both teams are coming off top performances during the indoor season. The Lady Hornets won the women's SWAC title, while the men finished third overall.
“Coming off a successful indoor season, I'm excited about going into the outdoor season,” Alabama State track coach
Ritchie Beene said. “I know it's going to be a challenge going into the outdoor season because the bulls' eye is on our back. We have several teams that are going to be gunning for that outdoor championship. We just want to take one meet at a time, one practice at a time and put together a game plan to go out and be successful by the time we get to the outdoor championship in New Orleans.”
The ASU women are the defending conference outdoor track champions.
Kesia Derilus, the outstanding track performer at this year's indoor SWAC Championships, will again be one of the top headliners for the Lady Hornets in the distance events. She finished third in the 5,000-meter run last year and fourth in the 1,500 at the conference event.
Peek and Franklin are the defending conference champions in the 800 meter run and 400 meter run, respectively.
2011 ALABAMA STATE OUTDOOR TRACK SCHEDULE (combined women/men)
DATE EVENT LOCATION
March 12 Southern Miss Invite Hattiesburg, Miss.
March 18-19 Texas Southern Relays Houston, Texas
April 8-9 Texas Relays Austin, Texas
April 15-16 War Eagle Invitational Auburn, Ala.
April 23 Coach “O” Classic Troy, Ala.
April 28 –May 1 SWAC Championship New Orleans, La.
May 14 Georgia Tech Atlanta, Ga.
May 26-28 NCAA Regional Bloomington, Ill.
June 8-11
NCAA Championship Des Moines, Iowa